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Sunday, October 12, 2008

A Wonderful Weekend

The past two days have been packed full with many different activities of which I will attempt to briefly describe . . . :)

Saturday morning began fairly early as Mom, Leah and I had several errands to run and also wanted to go to one of our favorite garage sales. Twice a year the senior center in town has a sale and in addition to all the household items, furniture, books, and the like, they also usually have lots of craft items . . . perfect for us!

We arrived at the sale and were greeted by several cheery, elderly ladies there who said that they were having a 'sack sale' - everything you can fit in a grocery sack for $3.00. This is what we came away with . . .

Lots of crochet thread, 6 completed hand-crocheted doilies (still attached to the rolls of thread), eyelet and lace trims galore, fabric, sewing patterns and notions, books, and more! We tightly packed our sack with treasures and ended up having a few things that did not fit so the total came to a little more than $3.00 for all of the above.

Here is one of the beautiful doily's:

After we arrived home and got everything put away, Mom headed out to paint another side of the chicken coop and Leah and I started in on the apples. In addition to the two big bags of apples given to us by a friend, the lady we are growing the green beans for gave us a whole big box of apples. What a blessing! Leah worked on cutting up apples for the freezer to be used in pies and other desserts, and I canned 10 pints of apple butter (an exciting first for me!). We began around 12:30 in the afternoon and called it a day around 8:30. We still have a lot of apples left, so tomorrow I am planning to try to make and can applesauce, too.

Cutting apples

Apples soaking in the lemon juice/water mixture (to keep them from browning).

Canning the last few jars . . . finally nearing the end.

Sunday was another enjoyable, refreshing day! During the morning and early afternoon was our time with brothers and sisters in the Lord which was special (as usual! :). After we had shared the afternoon meal together and visited for awhile, our family headed home to pick up our cameras and tripod to head out to Ryan's place for a photo shoot (we were needing an updated family photo. :)

It is always difficult to find the "perfect" location so we all spread out on a portion of his land to see what we could find . . .

Dad, Mom and Ryan

Me heading to the woods to see if a good location could be found there

Mom carrying Ryan's camera bag while Leah used his camera to take some photos

Then Ryan thought he found "The Perfect Spot" . . . we all agreed that it was very nice! But it was back a ways in the woods so we needed to 'tramp' down the grasses and brush in front of the area. While Ryan and I did that, Dad looked through the camera to find the best angle to take the photo from.

After that, the camera was attached to the tripod; everyone figured out where they were going to stand; I adjusted the camera settings, set the self-timer and then the photo shoot began! We had so much fun together, and I got my exercise running back and forth from the camera! And we even got a photo where all of us were smiling and had our eyes open! :)

(If you would like to see a larger image of the family photo, simply click on it. :)

Then I took a few more 'impromptu' photos of Mom and Dad (Ryan's great idea :) . . . this was our favorite . . .

Before we headed for home, Leah and I took quick photos of each other . . .

Leah

Me

How I love spending times such as this with my family! And what better location than out in the beautiful outdoors. :) While we were out at Ryan's, he showed us where he had set up his tree stand (which he is using for archery season). During rifle season, he will use a ground blind made with some of his hay bales, and he said that it looks like Leah and I will be able to go with him again this year! I am quite excited about that! (I do not hunt, but very much enjoy going with him when he does. :)

Ryan also showed us the progress that he had made on the gate going into his property. He is working on putting the posts in now which is quite a job and will take him at least several evenings to finish. So far it is looking quite nice!

The drive home was very beautiful! The sun would peak through the clouds from time to time lighting up the bluffs. The colors are beginning to change, and combined with the clouds and sunlight, it provided quite a feast for the eyes on the way home . . .

23 comments:

Sarah, I have to tell you once again what a blessing your blog is. It is so nice to see young girls doing something with their lives instead of sitting parked in front of the TV! Way to go with the apple butter, I hope your applesauce turns out well. I have some apples to use up, too. I'm planning on making an apple crisp.

I just love your blog and all the beautiful photos. You are a very special young lady, truly set apart. It looks like you have a really great family, too. May God bless all of you!

What a lovely picture of you & your family Sara. I want to come live there the scenery is breathtaking!!!!! I'm sure your apple butter will be delicious & I love your crocheted doilies something I have never quite got the hang of is crocheting!!! Marie x

Y'all got some beautiful things from the yard sale! Do y'all go yard saleing very often? When we lived in Greenville we would go at least once a month and I can't tell you how many nice things we got for just pennies(litterally!).

We really enjoyed your new family photo! We've been planning our annual family photo, also. We do the same thing you do, with the self-timer. (I am also the one who gets to run back and forth setting the timer!) Although it is a little more difficult with small, wiggly children! :) I've been waiting for the leaves to change just a little bit more (and for everyone to completely get over their colds!).

I love the new family photo! Great job everyone!Such pretty scenery indeed! Sure beats the smokey skies we've been having out here from all of the local fires. What baragin hunters you are! You may not hunt so well with a gun, but your "garage selling" sure hits the target well!!!Blessings to you from southern CA!

It was good to hear from you again, Kim! Thank you for commenting. :) And thank you for your encouraging and kind words! I am indeed blessed with a wonderful family . . . I could not ask for a better one!

Have you had the opportunity to make an apple crisp? I hope that it turns out beautifully for you!

Thank you, Marie! :) I had to smile when I read your thoughts on the scenery here . . . as I think the same of your country! Ireland is such a beautiful country! All that green and beautiful rolling hills . . . a gorgeous place.

Crocheting can be difficult to learn! I have never crocheted with thread to make doilies before . . . so it will be interesting to see if I can figure it out!

Yard/Garage sales are a lot of fun, aren’t they, Ashley?! This past year we were not able to go as often as we used to, but we are determining next year to do more of it. You can find really good deals at them! The sales have been and can be quite helpful in finding craft supplies, vases, and other items that we use for our girls group. Plus, we find lots of items we can use too! I heard of someone finding a near new Bosch mixer for $10.00 at a garage sale . . . wouldn’t that be a find! :)

I hope that your family photo shoot goes well for you, Joy! It can be kind of an adventure running from the camera to the ‘photo spot’ and getting all ready before the camera goes off. :) Yes, I can imagine it being more difficult with little ones! :) . . . to have everyone sitting still, having their eyes open and smiling at the camera all at the same time! :)

How fun to be going 'camera shopping', Amy! The camera I have is a Canon EOS Rebel XT and my lens is a Canon Zoom EF 28-105mm. And yes, I would recommend it! I love using it. :) I hope that your camera search is successful for you!

I loved viewing these pictures...you have a lovely family and what a sweet mom and dad picture...a treasure to be sure.I have saved your blog, Sarah I will be back..if you get a chance..visit mine, and read my testimony on Sept 30th *2007*...~deby

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About Me

I am a 31 year old from the beautiful midwest who enjoys blogging about her daily life as a . . . daughter, sister, believer in Christ, seamstress, fiddler, pianist, hammered dulcimer player, gardener, quilter, crocheter, cook/baker, homemaker, ‘farmer’ (do chickens, rabbits and goats count?), small business owner, lover of nature, bird watcher, thinker, writer, and more. And I hope you enjoy your visit here!